So the Xbox 360 is off to a roaring start, with huge lines of people waiting outside of retail stores so they could purchase the few units being offered for sale. But how does one define "success" for Microsoft and Xbox 360? Does it have to beat the PlayStation 3 in the market? Some are suggesting that Xbox 360 needs to outsell its predecessor to be termed successful. I guess that makes sense. The original Xbox has sold over 22 million units worldwide, so that's the goal. That, I guess, and outselling at least the Nintendo Revolution. But here's another bellweather of its (early) success: If Xbox 360 doesn't outsell the PlayStation 2 during the time period before the PlayStation 3 is released, I'm not sure how anyone could call this thing successful.
Microsoft has hired supercomputing pioneer Burton Smith to bolster the company's development of products for high-performance computing.
Smith, chief scientist at supercomputer maker Cray Inc., will be a technical fellow, said Lou Gellos, a spokesman for Redmond-based Microsoft. His last day at Seattle-based Cray will be Dec. 7.
Hiring Smith gives Microsoft the principal architect of Cray's supercomputer system and the head of a project aimed at developing new supercomputers. Smith's appointment follows the appointment earlier this year of Ray Ozzie, creator of Lotus Notes, as Microsoft's chief technology officer. Chairman Bill Gates this month urged software makers to build more programs for supercomputers.
For the first time, Microsoft Windows was the leading OS in new servers in the third quarter, as the overall worldwide server market grew a robust 8.1 percent, market research company IDC said Tuesday.
Sales of Windows systems accounted for 36.9 percent of all server revenue in the quarter, versus 31.7 percent for Unix and 11.5 percent for Linux, Eastwood said. Enterprises increasingly are using Windows-based servers for applications such as ERP (enterprise resource planning) in addition to traditional uses such as e-mail and Web hosting. Migration from Windows NT to newer versions of Windows also is driving sales, he said.
"For the first time, you could say that Microsoft has its own legacy, and that legacy is NT," Eastwood said.
Gartner Group has clarified its advice for when users should consider moving to Microsoft Vista, saying that organizations still running Windows 2000 should consider upgrading as soon as Vista ships.
The main problem areas are for users of Windows 2000, Gartner said. "Organizations running Windows 2000 absolutely need to be working on Windows Vista from the time Microsoft releases the product to manufacturing and should be talking to vendors of critical applications to discuss application support timelines before Windows Vista ships."
Microsoft is extending the popular RSS 2.0 Web syndication format to make it "multidirectional," allowing it to be used for synchronizing information such as contacts and calendar entries across different applications, the company says.
RSS 2.0 is best known as a way to let Internet users subscribe to content from Web sites that support Really Simple Syndication feeds. When content on a site is updated, the RSS feed informs the subscriber, often with a summary of the updated content and a link to it.
Microsoft quietly announced this week that it has released Beta 2 of BizTalk Server 2006 for download and the product remains on schedule.
The first beta test release went out in early August, and company officials said earlier this month that the final code release is still set for the first half of 2006.
BizTalk Server 2006 features a simplified installation wizard and a new management console designed to give administrators the ability to package applications into .msi files using Microsoft?s Windows Installer. It also adds business activity monitoring enhancements that support real-time business activity subscriptions and alerts.
Microsoft has introduced a test version of a hosted e-mail and instant-messaging service as part of the beta release of Windows Live.
As part of its set of free online services, Microsoft will host the e-mail and instant messaging for a domain an Internet user already owns, according to a Microsoft informational Web site describing the new Windows Live Custom Domains service. Users also can sign up for the service on that Web site, which allows them to configure Custom Domains through a Web-based wizard.
A crucial element of Microsoft's Xbox 360 launch strategy can be found on a remote piece of farmland in the rolling English countryside, dozens of miles from the nearest big city.
It may seem an improbable home for Rare Ltd., a 20-year-old video-game company that rose to prominence developing top-selling and well-regarded titles for Nintendo's consoles.
But it's not nearly as improbable as the position in which Rare finds itself today.
Microsoft's Windows OneCare beta is finally ready for public consumption. The consumer-facing PC security bundle, which is being tested in a private, invite-only manner, is on the verge of being rolled out to a broader public audience.
In an e-mail to beta testers, Microsoft said the Windows OneCare Live Beta will be opened to the public "very soon," but, officially, the company isn't offering a specific ship date. Will enterprises care about Windows OneCare? Click here to read more.
Gordon Mangione, a 14-year Microsoft veteran who was most recently corporate vice president in the company's Security Products Group, has left the company.
Reached at home, Mangione confirmed that his last day was a week ago Friday. "I'm taking some time off, looking to get into a startup. There's no rush. I'm going to parent-teacher meetings," he noted.
Mangione, who had been vice president of SQL Server, moved into the high-profile security group in April 2004. There he assumed leadership of security products while Rich Kaplan led marketing. Both reported to Mike Nash, the corporate vice president in charge of the overall Security Business Unit.